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- The 2013 Linguistic Institute has issued a call for course proposals, with a February 17 deadline.
2008 Annual Meeting
Abstract Guidelines and Specifications
To download this page as a printable pdf file, click here.
To view model abstracts, click here.
Deadlines for receipt of abstracts: Wednesday, 1 August 2007, 5:00 PM (EDT).
All abstracts and completed Abstract Submission Forms (available on-line after May 1) must be submitted to the LSA website by the deadline. Late abstracts will not be considered, whatever the reason for the delay.
The Program Committee requires that the subject matter be linguistic, that the papers not be submitted with malicious or scurrilous intent, and that the abstract be coherent and in accord with published specifications.
In 2008, there will be no more than six (6) simultaneous sessions of regular papers in each time block. As in the past, there is no upper limit on the number of papers in any subarea. This year, each abstract will be reviewed by members of the Program Committee and by three external expert reviewers. When the Program Committee meets, members discuss the ratings that have been assigned to each abstract, and on the basis of these ratings and their collective knowledge, they make decisions about acceptances and rejections. Then, they arrange each session, assemble the final program, and select session chairs.
General Requirements- All abstracts must be accompanied by a completed Abstract Submittal Form (available on-line after July 1).
- All authors must be members of the Linguistic Society. Payment for 2008 may accompany the abstract. The membership requirement may be waived for co-authors from other disciplines. Requests for waivers of membership must be made by a member of the Society by completing the "Membership Waiver Request Form" which is part of the Abstract Submittal Form file, and approved by the Executive Director.
- Any member may submit one single-author abstract and one multi-author abstract OR two multi-author abstracts. An organized session paper presentation counts as a multi-author abstract submission.
- Authors who will be unable to present their papers personally should specifically name a proxy who will both read the paper and respond to questions that follow.
- After an abstract has been submitted, no changes of author, affiliation, title, or wording of the abstract, other than those due to typographical errors, are permitted.
- Papers must be delivered as projected in the abstract or represent bona fide developments of the same research.
- Papers must not appear in print before the meeting.
- Handouts, if any, are not to be submitted with abstracts but should be available at the meeting for those listening to the paper.
- Abstracts for 20-minute papers and for posters must be submitted electronically and must be accompanied by a completed Abstract Submittal Form to be eligible for review.
- Presenters must pre-register for the meeting.
- Abstracts must be submitted in PDF format. For information about PDFs, click here.
- An abstract, including a bibliography, if needed, and examples, must be no more than 500 words. All words in examples including glosses and numbers in tables, references, and so on are counted in the 500-word limit. Abstracts longer than 500 words will be rejected without being evaluated.
- Your name should only appear on the Abstract Submittal Form. If you identify yourself in any way on the abstract (e.g. "In Smith (1992)...I"), the abstract will be rejected without being evaluated.
- Abstracts that do not conform to the format guidelines will not be considered.
- A short abstract, intended for publication in the Meeting Handbook, will be requested from all authors of accepted papers. Specific instructions for the transmittal of this abstract will be included in the acceptance letters. These instructions, including the stated deadlines, must be observed or the paper will be withdrawn from the program.
Many abstracts are rejected because they omit crucial information rather than because of errors in what they include. Authors may wish to consult the abstract models prepared by the Program Committee. A suggested outline for abstracts is as follows:
- Choose a title that clearly indicates the topic of the paper and is not more than one 7-inch typed line.
- State the problem or research question raised by prior work, with specific reference to relevant prior research.
- State the main point or argument of the proposed presentation.
- Regardless of the subfield, cite sufficient data, and explain why and how they support the main point or argument. When examples are in languages other than English, provide word-by-word glosses and underline the portions of the examples which are critical to the argument. Explain abbreviations at their first occurrence.
- If your paper presents the results of experiments, but collection of results is not yet complete, then report what results you've already obtained in sufficient detail that your abstract may be evaluated. Also indicate explicitly the nature of the experimental design and the specific hypothesis tested.
- State the relevance of your ideas to past work or to the future development of the field. Describe analyses in as much detail as possible. Avoid saying in effect "a solution to this problem will be presented". If you are taking a stand on a controversial issue, summarize the arguments that led you to your position.
- State the contribution to linguistic research made by the analysis.
- While citation in the text of the relevant literature is essential, a separate list of references at the end of the abstract is generally unnecessary.
Categories of Presentations
Members submitting abstracts of poster presentations and 20-minute papers should follow the
instructions for abstract format and content carefully. Submissions in these two categories
will be reviewed anonymously.
Note that members may submit an abstract as (1) a paper, (2) a poster, or (3) a paper or a poster.
Poster Sessions
Depending on subject and/or content, it may be more appropriate to submit an abstract to the
poster session for visual presentation rather than to a 20-minute paper session. In general,
the sorts of papers which are most effective as posters are those in which the major conclusions
become evident from the thoughtful examination of charts and graphs, rather than those which
require the audience to follow a sustained chain of verbal argumentation. Therefore, authors
will want to make points in narrative form as brief as possible. The poster paper is able to
"stand alone", that is, be understandable even if the author is not present, and does not
require audiovisual support.
20-Minute Papers
The bulk of the program will consist of 20-minute papers, with 10 minutes for discussion of each paper.
